During the course of improving pedestrian protection, it is necessary to equip panel components with a certain deformability in order to reduce the loads for the pedestrian in the event of an impact. Through the deformation of the panel components, these absorb a part of the energy that is active during the impact by at least apart of this energy being converted into deformation energy. The loads of the pedestrian can consequently be minimized in that the deformability is increased. In other words, the softer and more resilient the panel components are, the more greatly reduced the loads for the pedestrian during the course of an impact. In this connection, the loads which during an impact act on the thigh or the hip of the pedestrian play a decisive role.
However, the panel components cannot be made softer indefinitely or their deformability be increased indefinitely, since they also have supporting functions for example for fog lamps and sensors. During the operation of the vehicle, they are sometimes additionally exposed to major loads for example as a consequence of vibrations or aerodynamic pressures. Furthermore, extraordinary loads can also occur for example by slamming the hood or when an animal jumps on the engine hood or a person sits on the engine hood or the vehicle grille or leans against the same. In these cases, it is undesirable that the panel components are deformed.
There is consequently a conflic between the deformability on the one hand and the stiffness of the panel components on the other hand. The present disclosure is not aimed at the deformation behavior in the event of a collision with another vehicle or a stationary object since the energy input in this case is incomparably greater. The deformation behavior as a consequence of such a collision will therefore be ignored in the following considerations.